And the comments are the manual:

A real engineer only resorts to documentation when the keyboard dents on the forehead get too noticeable.

[ Tip #1 - the super star : vim online ]

Did I mention that I ♥ vim?

With this indisputable scientific data, it is likely that 30 days of Sha’ban will be completed and the first day of Ramadan will be on Wednesday, October 5, 2005, for North America, insha’Allah.

[ Read News: ISNA.net ]

So you're all set up to podcatch with ipodder, but you want to automatically sync with your portable device. The problem? You don't own an actual iPod, but you do have a Windows Mobile device that has mp3 playback and a nice sized SD card. The solution? MobSync.

MobSync is a software allowing any file folder synchronization from the Pocket PC onto the desktop--synchronization which cannot be done with ActiveSync. So, with this software you can synchronize any file folder on your Pocket PC (not necessarily \My Documents) with any file folder on your desktop (not necessarily \Pocket_PC My Documents either). It works well and now that it is translated in english it is a must have. Pay attention to very big files, it may stop in the middle of the process and fail to copy (just like ActiveSync).

[ PocketPCFreewares - MobSync ]

This should work fine on your Dell Axim, your Samsung i730 phone, or what-have-you. Now you only need to find podcasts worth subscribing too...

Or, if you have $9 and want an all-in-one PodCatching/RSS aggregating solution that requires no PC, FeedReader looks pretty hot.

I've made the switch to IE7 from slim browser. I really liked slim browser, but I felt the need to get back to IE, and once tabs were added I thought I'd see if I could do it. One nice thing about IE is I can have multiple windows, slim browser likes everything to be in one. One thing I really missed about switching, though, is mouse gestures:

This article discusses how I've added mouse gesture support to Internet Explorer. The code presented isn't intended to detail every step in the implementation (hopefully the source code will do this); rather it's intended to provide a quick sketch of the steps involved.

[ The Code Project - Mouse Gestures for Internet Explorer - ATL ]

Now I only really use two mouse gestures, and they aren't much to implement, but this little plug in does both and pretty much the rest of the bunch. My most used are "click right left" and "click left right" for going forward one page or back one page respectively.

Now that I have mouse gestures, I wonder what other features of slim browser I can get my IE to do?

Multiple site browser based on tab-page interface - though the IE tabs aren't as flexible
Seamless integration with AI RoboForm FormFiller/Password Manager - which I never used
Built-in Popup Killer based on intelligent identification and pre-defined filtering - though IE's isn't as bright
Site windows killed by mistake are FULLY RECOVERABLE - this always was nice, though at times irritating. Slim browser doesn't block the popup, it fully hides the blockup and if you don't recover it in a short amount of time, kills the hidden window. This is great unless the page makes sound, which the popup blocker doesn't block at all.
Ability to turn on/off Flash Animation - I never used this, it was too difficult to turn on and off all of the time.
Built-in web form spell checker - ieSpell does that for me.
Universal URL Filter: Block ad banners, flash animations, iframes or any components within any web pages by URL patterns - I never really tweaked this, so I didn't get much use out of it.
Built-in RSS News Rendering Engine. Now you can read RSS news directly inside SlimBrowser without additional RSS Reader software - IE7 has this and it's just as stupid as in all of the other browsers. Seriously people, just get bloglines.
ActiveX Filter: block obtrusive dialogs prompting you to install unsafe ActiveX controls - not sure how this is any different than IE has always had.
Convenient access to major search engines by Quick-Search Bar - sure no quick-search, but my google bar works fine.
Seamless integration of most Internet Explorer toolbars - Oddly IE does fine with this.
ScriptPad: Built-in VBScript/Jscript/HTML/Text editor - I never liked this, vi is the editor for me.
Hidden Sites : hide and show a site at users' request
Skinned window frame - WindowBlinds works for me.
Free-zooming of any web page - I don't think I have this, but I bet there is a windows accessability option to do something similar.
AutoLogin: automatically connect and log into specified website with just one click - I'm not even sure I ever saw this.
Seamless integration with online translation engine and dictionaries - with google bar
Ability to suppress script error message dialog - even IE4 could do this, I think.
Site Group: Open and save a collection of sites as a group - not very useful to me
Flexible control of startup actions - don't really need this either
URL Alias: Type short alias instead long URL - like tinurl?

A lot of good functionality in slim browser, but I think IE7 will work fine for me. One thing to note, IE7 works fine inside of slim browser so you'll still get the IE7 browsing engine inside of slim browser, if you have both installed.

I found an interesting article that was posted last year on USA Today, the author attempted a real world comparison of VW's diesel technology vs. Toyota's hybrid technology:

Prius is comfortable, a festival of technology and unquestionably cleaner-burning than the VW can be today with only high-sulfur diesel fuel available. But the real-world mileage of pleasant-driving Jetta was better than that of Prius, and diesel fuel typically was 16% to 20% cheaper than unleaded gas.

Jetta lived up to its one-tank billing. Prius did not.

And on top of that the only drawback that he seemed to find vis à vie the VW was environmental impact:

While the fuel price advantage on this trip goes to the diesel, the environmental advantage goes to the hybrid. The Jetta spews out six times more sulfur particulates than Prius, which can run almost emission-free when using low-sulfur gasoline available in California but almost nowhere else. Federal regulations require phasing in of low-sulfur gas and diesel the next few years, which will improve the emission performance of both gas and diesel vehicles.

[ USATODAY.com ]

Since it's been over a year from the article being written, gas prices have gone through the roof, federal guidelines about the amount of sulfur in diesel have begun to go into affect, and bio-diesel is much more prevalent than ever.

Perhaps I'm putting too much stock in one game, but I think that Trace Memory promises to be the first game for my DS that has made the purchase worthwhile:

[ Trace Memory ]

It seems like the interface is well thought out, the story seems to be engaging, and there is tons to explore. I'm hoping that many of this type of adventure game finds its way onto the DS, as most action and platform type games aren't cutting it on the DS (as far as I am concerned).

And, if this doesn't live up to my hype, then Animal Crossing: Wild World had better.

How irritating:

In an RSS attack, the content deliver from trusted RSS sites is hijacked and lead the user to offending sites, which collect their personal information to phishers, or download viruses to their computer.

[ IT Observer - Next IE Opens Door for RSS Attacks ]

And how, exactly, is RSS attacked? Or hijacked? The feeds are delivered no different than a web page, except they are in XML. I can no more "hijack" RSS than I can a website.

Plus, as I'm sure all will notice soon, browsers are a seriously crappy way of aggregating RSS.

Crazy but (possibly) true:

Ever since Palm separated from PalmSource Inc., the company that develops the Palm OS, analysts and enthusiasts have been speculating that Palm would eventually turn to a different operating system vendor for its smart phones and personal digital assistants. That speculation reached fever pitch earlier this week, when Engadget posted photos of the unannounced Treo 700w running the Windows Mobile operating system.

[ Windows-based Treo May Arrive Today - CIO News Alerts - Blog - CIO ]

Which, of course, could mean a Windows OS powered Life Drive. Perhaps my lack of buying a portable digital media device (PDMD) has finally paid off.

Update: Reuters says it's true.

Words of wisdom from the sage of marketing:

But what if you're selling it in the wrong place?
Or with the wrong tone of voice?

I think context is underrated. Especially online.

[ Seth's Blog: Would you buy life insurance at a rock concert? ]

This is exactly what bugs me about people calling me to sell me stuff. I didn't ask you to waste my time trying to sell me on things that I don't need, or even do need. What on earth made you think that my phone is an acceptable place for you to make your pitch?

What you need to do is be in that right place at the right time when I am thinking about needing services or products like yours. Sure it's harder to determine that place, but I can guarantee it is never, ever, ever, ever on my phone.

And perhaps what I should have done in the first place. I've just downloaded the new FreeTextBox and recompiled my site.

FreeTextBox 3.0 is a free ASP.NET server control written in C# for use in ASP.NET applications. You can use FreeTextBox in any product with no obligation for payment.

[ FreeTextBox Forums ]

Though the RSS Enclosures, ability to edit dates or blog a different day than it is, upload images directly, and who knows what else, are all nice things to have too.

Which is always a bit of a pain, due to my hacking of the system.

dasBlog Community Edition is an ASP.NET weblogging application. It runs on ASP.NET 1.1 and is developed in C#. dasBlog, an evolution of the BlogX weblog engine, adds lots of additional features like Trackback, Pingback, Mail notifications, full Blogger/M

[ SourceForge.net: Project Info - newtelligence dasBlog Community Edition ]

And, it appears, that I took so long a few minor upgrades were made as well. Originally I did this because my IE 7 at work isn't sensed correctly by the FreeTextBox control, and I'm not even sure this upgrade fixes it. The "Add Image" functionality returns, so I won't have to use the crappy image library screen, which is probably worth the price of admission. RSS enclosures have been added as well, so I guess I can do a podcast, but I really don't get them, so I won't...

The wisdom of fools is usually to be avoided, but the Motley Fools tend to know what they speak of. In this case not even a gamer, but suprisingly upbeat about Nintendo's future.

I'm not much of a video gamer, but I'm a huge fan of companies that succeed through creativity, and I'm glad to see Nintendo winning praise for trying something different. Its bizarre brainstorms might just be the company's ticket back to the heights of video-game royalty. True, the Revolution will need a solid lineup of games to match the promise of its nifty new controller and lure third-party game developers back to its system. But this is a company that made a plumber, an ape, and a little elf guy into worldwide superstars. I'm willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt on this.

[ Nintendo's Revolutionary Controller - Yahoo! News ]

I think his assumptions about what must compliement Nintendo's Revolution are true, and quite evident to Nintendo. And I think this is a very good sign. And, I hope, one more step to a future where children may say, "Sony used to make video games?".

After literally 3 minutes of extensive searching, I found this:

Anonymous (2001) is a TrueType version of Anonymous 9, a freeware Macintosh bitmap font developed in the mid-90s by Susan Lesch and David Lamkins. It was designed as a more legible alternative to Monaco, the mono-spaced Macintosh system font.

[ Anonymous(tm) ]

And with that? I'll stop looking...

Shiver me timbers, it's international Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

[ Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19 ]

Props to Sajous

It seems like there is too much to read on the Internet, but I'll keep trying anyway. This looks interesting, so I'll blog about it, and hope to return and read it in depth.

The Initiative for Open Authentication (OATH) is a collaborative effort of IT industry leaders aimed at providing a reference architecture for universal strong authentication across all users and all devices over all networks. Using open standards, OATH will offer more hardware choices, and lower cost of ownership, and allow customers to replace existing disparate and proprietary security systems whose complexity often leads to higher costs.

[ OATH | benefits ]

Props to my Pops

Me want just one big button, and me want to play game like TV with no use dumb brain.

Nintendo breaks with more than 20 years of video game history by abandoning the traditional controller held with two hands and introducing an all-new freehand-style unit held with one hand.

[ News : Article ]

Seriously, once you get past the fact that this no longer looks like a game, and just looks like a Swedish TV remote, or the controller for your toilet, I think it has some merit. I'm assuming that if Nintendo is banking the company on this, they've done quite a bit of play testing and know what fun feels like. I remember before using my beloved Microsoft Natural Keyboard, I thought it was stupid too.

Nate points out that the design of the "thumb stick dongle" seems a bit weak, and I'd have to agree. My assumption is that if that was wireless as well (perhaps bluetooth) you'd never know who's is which unless your controllers were all different colors (like in the above photo). Plus that extra bit has to be solely for backward compatibility, and won't be used on the majority of games.

Update: Hot, hot, hot. No doubt, this is a must by.

And they have all of my favorites!

Our variety of Asian foods includes Japanese, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, and other select Asian foods, as well as an open Sushi bar

[ Singapore Bistro Washington DC Sushi and Asian Cuisine and Bar ]

Bakso too!

Game on!

Washington Capitals individual game tickets will go on sale to the public Thursday, Sept. 15 at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online through the Capitals website, WashingtonCaps.com, or through local Ticketmaster outlets, including the box office at MCI Center.

[ The Official Web Site of theWashington Capitals ]

Though Ticketmaster sucks, so buy them straight from the team...

The full schedule:

== October ==
Wed. Oct. 5  Columbus,             7 p.m.
Fri. Oct. 7  Atlanta,              7 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 8  at Atlanta,           7 p.m.
Mon. Oct. 10 N.Y. Rangers,         1 p.m.
Wed. Oct. 12 at Carolina,          7 p.m.
Thu. Oct. 13 N.Y. Islanders,       7 p.m.
Sun. Oct. 16 Tampa Bay,            6 p.m.
Thu. Oct. 20 at Florida,           7 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 22 Carolina,             7 p.m.
Wed. Oct. 26 at Buffalo,           7 p.m.
Fri. Oct. 28 at Tampa Bay,         7:30 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 29 at Florida,           7:30 p.m.
== November ==
Thu. Nov. 3  at Philadelphia,      7 p.m.
Fri. Nov. 4  Atlanta,              7 p.m.
Sun. Nov. 6  Toronto,              5 p.m.
Tue. Nov. 8  at Toronto,           7:30 p.m.
Fri. Nov. 11 New Jersey,           1 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 12 at New Jersey,        1 p.m.
Tue. Nov. 15 Tampa Bay,            7 p.m.
Thu. Nov. 17 at Buffalo,           7 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 19 at Montreal,          7 p.m.
Tue. Nov. 22 at Pittsburgh,        7:30 p.m.
Wed. Nov. 23 Tampa Bay,            7 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 26 at N.Y. Rangers,      7 p.m.
Sun. Nov. 27 Buffalo,              3 p.m.
== December ==
Sat. Dec. 3  N.Y. Rangers,         7 p.m.
Wed. Dec. 7  Nashville,            7 p.m.
Fri. Dec. 9  Detroit,              7 p.m.
Wed. Dec. 14 at Los Angeles,       10:30 p.m.
Fri. Dec. 16 at San Jose,          10:30 p.m.
Sun. Dec. 18 Florida,              6 p.m.
Thu. Dec. 22 at Atlanta,           7 p.m.
Fri. Dec. 23 Montreal,             7 p.m.
Tue. Dec. 27 Boston,               7 p.m.
Wed. Dec. 28 at New Jersey,        7:30 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 31 Philadelphia,         1 p.m.
== January ==
Sun. Jan. 1  Atlanta,              3 p.m.
Wed. Jan. 4  Ottawa,               7 p.m.
Fri. Jan. 6  Philadelphia,         7 p.m.
Sun. Jan. 8  Florida,              3 p.m.
Tue. Jan. 10 Chicago,              7 p.m.
Thu. Jan. 12 at Dallas,            8:30 p.m.
Fri. Jan. 13 at Anaheim,           10:30 p.m.
Mon. Jan. 16 at Phoenix,           4 p.m.
Thu. Jan. 19 St. Louis,            7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 21 Carolina,             7:30 p.m.
Mon. Jan. 23 Boston,               7 p.m.
Wed. Jan. 25 at Pittsburgh,        7:30 p.m.
Thu. Jan. 26 at Boston,            7 p.m.
Sun. Jan. 29 Tampa Bay,            3 p.m.
Tue. Jan. 31 at N.Y. Islanders,    7 p.m.
== February ==
Fri. Feb. 3  Toronto,              7 p.m.
Sat. Feb. 4  at Tampa Bay,         7:30 p.m.
Tue. Feb. 7  Florida,              7 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 10 at Philadelphia,      7 p.m.
Sat. Feb. 11 Pittsburgh,           7 p.m.
Tue. Feb. 28 at Toronto,           7:30 p.m.
== March ==
Thu. Mar. 2  at Ottawa,            7:30 p.m.
Sat. Mar. 4  at Atlanta,           7 p.m.
Mon. Mar. 6  N.Y. Islanders,       7 p.m.
Wed. Mar. 8  Pittsburgh,           7 p.m.
Fri. Mar. 10 New Jersey,           7 p.m.
Sun. Mar. 12 Ottawa,               3 p.m.
Tue. Mar. 14 Buffalo,              7 p.m.
Thu. Mar. 16 at N.Y. Rangers,      7 p.m.
Sat. Mar. 18 Florida,              7 p.m.
Mon. Mar. 20 Montreal,             7 p.m.
Wed. Mar. 22 at Florida,           7 p.m.
Thu. Mar. 23 at Tampa Bay,         7:30 p.m.
Sat. Mar. 25 at Carolina,          7 p.m.
Wed. Mar. 29 at Carolina,          7 p.m.
Thu. Mar. 30 at Montreal,          7:30 p.m.
== April ==
Sat. Apr. 1  at Ottawa,            7 p.m.
Mon. Apr. 3  at Carolina,          7 p.m.
Wed. Apr. 5  Carolina,             7 p.m.
Fri. Apr. 7  Carolina,             7 p.m.
Sat. Apr. 8  at N.Y. Islanders,    7 p.m.
Mon. Apr. 10 at Boston,            7 p.m.
Thu. Apr. 13 at Atlanta,           7 p.m.
Sat. Apr. 15 at Florida,           7:30 p.m.
Mon. Apr. 17 Atlanta,              7 p.m.
Tue. Apr. 18 at Tampa Bay,         7:30 p.m.

We've begun to analyze non-Microsoft database solutions, and (surprise) a little application called MySQL has risen to the top of the heap:

The MySQL database has become the world's most popular open source database because of its consistent fast performance, high reliability and ease of use. It's used in more than 6 million installations ranging from large corporations to specialized embedded applications on every continent in the world.

[ MySQL AB :: Why MySQL? ]

I know that my readers are super-nerdy, and I'm sure dozens of them have MySQL success or horror stories. Why not share them?

It always seems that way to me.

An employee of Samsung Electronics shows the world's highest density 16-gigabit NAND flash memory device using 50-nanometer technology during a news conference in Seoul, Monday, Sept. 12, 2005

[ Yahoo! News Photo ]

If Korea doesn't shoot right past Japan any day now, I'll be surprised. Though they do have that addiction to MMORPGs thing to get over...

Props to Big G

Cosplay just grows and grows:

Cosplay Lab features tens of thousands of anime, manga, video game, J-Rock, sci-fi and fantasy costumes created by people just like you from all over the world. It's your one-stop shop for maintaining your entire costume collection, organize cosplay skits and photoshoots, meet other cosplayers, get info on upcoming anime conventions, and way more! Join for FREE and elevate your cosplay.

[ Cosplay Lab ]

What surprises me is the unique set of skills and interests that would seem to be required for a hobby like this. I guess 2 or 3 folks might have those, but enough to make a slick community website like this? Next thing you know people will be paying $5 for a cup of coffee just to experience a certain life style...

Some country singer girl wants you to know:

Free Vintage T-Shirt from Hershey

[ HERSHEY'S Vintage ]

I'm partial to the Reese's T-Shirt. Wonder if it wears better when frozen...

But you can. What a great line up planned for this weekend:

2nd Annual Silver Spring Jazz Fest
Starring Wynton Marsalis
September 10, 2005, 2:00 to 10:30 p.m. - FREE!
At Fenton Street and Ellsworth Drive in Downtown Silver Spring.

[ Silver Sprung ]

Silver Spring, Jazz, Good Times, how can you go wrong? Kojo says he's going, why not you?

Nate was inquiring to my "work homepage". It uses this "jobby" to create some thumbnails of my most frequently used "homepage" like sites:

url2bmp is a Windows freeware converting an URL to an image

[ url2bmp ]

Google Talk has pushed me back over the edge. Too many programs, and they all do the same thing. I'll try Trillian again.

Trillian is a fully featured, stand-alone, skinnable chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. It provides capabilities not possible with original network clients, while supporting standard features such as audio chat, file transfers, group chats, chat rooms, buddy icons, multiple simultaneous connections to the same network, server-side contact importing, typing notification, direct connection (AIM), proxy support, encrypted messaging (AIM/ICQ), SMS support, and privacy settings.

[ Cerulean Studios -> Learn about Trillian ]

In 2 weeks it will expire. We'll see then if I pony up the $25 for Trillian Pro (the only way to get Google Talk) or go back to my wicked ways.

I've been using this on a few machines that aren't attached to a domain, and think it works pretty darn good:

Our freeware Atomic Clock Sync utility can help you keep your local computer up-to-date with the exact current time.

[ Free Atomic Clock Sync utility from worldtimeserver.com ]

Can't beat the price, either.

From 1699 to 1780, Williamsburg was the capital of England's oldest, largest, richest, and most populous colony and the seat of power in the new nation's most influential state. It was in the shops, taverns, government buildings, homes and streets of Williamsburg that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and other Virginia patriots established the ideals — liberty, independence and personal freedom — that influenced the founding of our nation and have inspired generations of Americans and others around the world.

[ Colonial Williamsburg Media FAQS - Freqently[sic] Asked Questions ]

In September of 2005 it was the site of the celebration of Yaty and David's first Anniversary (God willing). There was revelry, good food, historical lessons, and roller coasters. And the most influential state continued its influence.